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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



sugar in the United States — calculated for an 

 "adequate diet at moderate cost" and for a "liberal 

 diet" — is 60 pounds (Cummings, p. 200) . Accord- 

 ingly, it would appear that the Totonac are 

 moderately well provided with sugar — since the 

 calculations above are based on the smaller man- 

 cuerna; since brown sugar occasionally is sup- 

 plemented by white; since fresh cane is chewed 

 with enthusiasm; and since honey is eaten from 

 time to time. 



PROTEINS 



Proteins come principally from eggs and leg- 

 umes, with fowl, meat, fish, and assorted game 

 constituting a secondary source; corn, of course, 

 provides a certain amount daily. 



Most families in Tajin keep chickens, turkeys, 

 or both, and eggs are available throughout the 

 year, although relative abundance varies. Never- 

 theless, they provide the only constant animal pro- 

 tein in local diet. 



In many parts of Mexico, beans are ubiquitous, 

 but in Tajin, they are somewhat of a luxury, al- 

 though served more frequently than is meat. We 

 have no concrete figures, but as a guess, beans are 

 eaten, at most, on an average of 2 days a week in 

 the majority of households. In one case, a house- 

 wife lamented that it was "a long time" since she 

 had tasted either beans or meat. 



Meat of any description falls definitely among 

 luxury foods. Little Maclovio Calderon, aged 3, 

 was asked to name his favorite food; unhesti- 

 tatingly, he replied, "came? In most families, 

 meat certainly is not eaten more than once a week, 

 and for many it is exclusively a feast dish. 



Fowl is the meat most commonly available, and 

 it is not unusual for the family to kill a chicken for 

 a minor celebration. Next in importance is pork. 

 Butchering is relatively frequent when the fields 

 are being cleared and planted, for then it is a mat- 

 ter of prestige for each household to serve the 

 workers a bountiful meal, with mole — either of 

 pork or fowl. 88 Beef is of scant importance and 



88 Even at fiestas, the servings of meat are frugal. For one 

 feast, we are told that 6.5 kg. of pork served 60 persons — about 

 108 gm. the plate. One Informant calculates that 20 kg. of pork 

 are sufficient for two meals for 60 persons. In short, 120 servings 

 are extracted from the 20 kg., or about 166 gm. per plate. 



At fiestas, nothing is wasted. Often food left on the plate is 

 returned to the kettles, to be served anew, and late-comers may 

 find odd bits of tortilla in their mole. However, upon occasion, 

 we have seen food scraped from the plates with half-consumed 

 tortillas, and fed to the dogs. 



the little that is eaten is purchased in Papantla; 

 when pork is not available locally, it, too, may be 

 bought in town. Of late, in 1949, the consumption 

 of both pork and beef has been reduced to neg- 

 ligible terms, indirectly the result of efforts to 

 eradicate the hoof and mouth disease. Popular 

 opinion is that sterility results from eating the 

 flesh of animals which have been injected against 

 the malady. As a consequence, the Totonac of the 

 Papantla hinterland have declared an informal 

 boycott on such meat, and butchering in Papantla 

 appears to have been reduced materially. 



Cheese is eaten occasionally, and the more pros- 

 perous families purchase in small quantity in 

 Papantla, from time to time. One household, 

 better stocked than most with city merchandise, 

 buys 250 or 500 gm. about twice a month, for a 

 family of two adults and three small children. All 

 regard cheese as a luxury. 



Presumably, the protein intake is augmented 

 considerably by other foods, particularly by maize 

 (Anderson et al., p. 1129), which is eaten daily, 

 and by sesame and squash seed, 89 utilized less 

 frequently. 



On the whole, it seems almost certain that 

 Totonac diet is deficient in high quality protein. 

 Although a number of foods are mentioned above, 

 except for eggs and maize, none is available con- 

 stantly or in quantity. Beans are more plentiful 

 than meat, but are not raised successfully in Tajin ; 

 both meat and cheese are luxury items; and the 

 supply of fish and game is extremely limited. 

 Other presumed sources, such as sesame and squash 

 seed, probably are not eaten in sufficient quantity 

 to be very significant. 



If a high-yield protein crop could be adapted 

 for local planting, local diet might be benefited 

 materially. We have noted above that soybeans 

 are being tried at present. Another possibility is 

 larger-scale utilization of the pigeon pea {Cajawi*. 

 No. 95), which is a food of "considerable potenti- 

 ality" (Munsell et al., p. 7). 90 



FS Assays of sesame and of the seed of two samples of Cucur- 

 bita pcpo L. have been published (Cravioto et al., table 3) ; we 

 have seen no report concerning C. argyrosperma Hort., the cucur- 

 bit seed used in Tajin. 



Moreover, the tested sesame is from Guerrero and the squash 

 from Morelos. Without specific analyses of Tajin specimens, it 

 is difficult to say to what extent their nutritive value resembles 

 or differs from that of similar products grown elsewhere. 



00 Both immature and presumably dried seeds are fairly high 

 in nitrogen (Munsell et al., p. 7, table 2 : Cravioto and Miranda, 

 No. 211). 



